Hermen Hulst
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Sony's PlayStation leadership is changing again
With the PlayStation 5 due next year, PlayStation is no doubt keen to get its ducks in a row. It's seen a number of managerial changes recently, and has now announced two new moves. Hermen Hulst, formerly of studio Guerilla, is now head of worldwide studios, tasked with making sure the PS5 has plenty of first-party blockbuster games on its roster. PlayStation veteran Shuhei Yoshida, meanwhile, takes the helm of a new initiative to encourage more indies to the platform. Hulst co-founded Amsterdam-based Guerilla, best known for the Killzone franchise and Horizon Zero Dawn. Sony acquired Guerilla back in 2005, and since then Hulst has been responsible for driving a number of innovations, including proprietary game engine Decima which has been used to produce a number of titles, among them the upcoming Death Standing. Meanwhile, Yoshida's new role will see him leading a new company initiative designed to support independent developers -- exactly what that looks like isn't clear yet, but Yoshida is well-known in the business for his love of indie games, and Sony could certainly use a boost in this area. Once a staunch backer of independent developers the company's foothold in this market has weakened in recent years -- Yoshida's new position could turn this around.
Devs helped shape PS4, console wasn't designed 'in an ivory tower somewhere in Tokyo'
Pssst, here's an open secret: Sony's PlayStation 3 was a machine built on ego that had harsh executive-level repercussions following launch. For the recently revealed PlayStation 4, which Sony has been developing for several years, the company took a more democratic approach, consulting with developers and publishers on what it should do."We've been very closely involved in the development of the machine," said Hermen Hulst, co-founder of Killzone developer Guerrilla Games, to The Guardian. "It's no longer designed in an ivory tower somewhere in Tokyo, it's shared with us, with [Uncharted developer] Naughty Dog, with Sony San Diego – and together we've built the machine."The Guardian posits developer consultation and discussions with publishers like Ubisoft led to the PS4 being designed in line with modern PCs, so devs could easily comprehend the hardware. Other design elements noted were greater social integration and controller elements, like concave triggers and the headphone jack.The Guardian has far more on the roundtable design.
What Killzone looked like before it was Killzone
The E3 2005 trailer for Killzone 2 quickly became well-known (infamous, even) for its supposedly unatainable levels of in-game graphical prowess. But the initial trailer for the game that would become the original Killzone has been much less well known ... until this past week at GDC Europe. Guerilla Games Managing Director Hermen Hulst showed off the circa-1999 concept video in a keynote speech in Cologne earlier this week, calling it a "showcase of technical competence" prepared for their first meeting with Sony. Even though Hulst admits there's "nothing really 'Killzone' about it" at this early stage (for instance, the Helghast and their glowing eyes don't even make a cameo appearance) we thought it was an interesting look at the pre-history of one of Sony's biggest exclusive franchises. To see the video in full, follow us past the break.
Guerrilla Games managing director keynoting GDC Europe
Organizers for the Cologne-based gaming industry get-together, GDC Europe, have announced who will deliver this year's keynote address: Guerrilla Games managing director Hermen Hulst. According to the press release announcing Hulst's keynoting duties, his speech will focus on "how the studio has matured, which obstacles had to be overcome and what some of the ingredients behind the success of the Killzone series are." The presser also mentions Hulst's speech "will be located somewhere in the field of tension between hardware and software." We thought we were familiar with the Cologne Congress Center, but we have no idea where that is. Is it close to the cafeteria? Maybe?
